Popular HBCU-focused Web Site Renews Partnership with Merck to Continue Successful Health and Wellness Platform

— Merck’s alliance with HBCUConnect.com provides targeted lifestyle and health information to a 1.2 million member community of Black college students and alumni —

Columbus, OH — HBCU Connect (www.hbcuconnect.com), the trusted source for community engagement and lifestyle information for the alumni of America’s historically black colleges & universities, recently announced a renewed partnership with innovative pharmaceutical company Merck (www.merck.com). The renewal will ensure the continuation of the successful health and wellness microsite, www.hbcuconnect.com/merckengage, which targets HBCU Connect’s 1.2 million educated African-American subscribers.

The health and wellness microsite was a breakout success, resulting in more than 49 million ad views and over 85,000 ad clicks driving traffic to MerckEngage.com. The success comes thanks to HBCU Connect’s influential standing in the community, driven by its social media presence, print publication and dedicated user base. The site includes co-branded content relevant to HBCUConnect.com subscribers while providing a wealth of useful health information and simultaneously offering MerckEngage a unique opportunity to engage this important customer segment. The partnership is designed to offer resources that can improve awareness and help better manage common health conditions prevalent in the African American community.

In addition to the microsite, HBCUConnect.com members have access to all of MerckEngage.com’s consumer offers which include disease management, fitness tips, healthy eating, recipes, and coupon offers by accessing the comprehensive website at www.MerckEngage.com. MerckEngage.com offers health information, tips, and tools website visitors can rely on every day.

“MerckEngage has proven to be an invaluable resource for our members, and with this renewed partnership, we’ll be able to continue providing them access to relevant health information dedicated to the HBCU community,” says Will Moss, CEO of HBCU Connect. “We’re honored to partner with a corporation of such great stature and look forward to a beneficial business relationship that will benefit both of our organizations as well as HBCUConnect.com’s website visitors.”

Conrod Kelly, US Marketing Lead, Chair of the EBRG Executive Council and HBCU Alum (FAMU) shares in the enthusiasm for the partnership. “Merck is pleased and proud to team up with HBCU to support healthy living, via www.merckengage.com. This is a multi-channel health and wellness platform, in English and Spanish, designed to help health care consumers achieve goals for living a healthier lifestyle.”

While its educated African American readership benefits from useful health and lifestyle resources from MerckEngage.com, HBCU Connect presents MerckEngage with a valuable marketing opportunity: the potential to reach more than 1 million monthly website visitors across HBCUConnect.com, and their network of African American targeted websites such as BlackNews.com, BlackHistory.com, BlackWomenConnect.com, and a huge social media presence on Facebook and Twitter. Both brands recognize the value of connecting with the African-American community in such a personal way and look forward to continue bringing useful health and wellness content to such a crucial network.

HBCU Connect is the undisputed leader in uniting alumni of America’s foremost HBCUs with valuable resources for career development, community engagement and now even health and wellness.

About HBCU Connect
Founded in 1999, HBCU Connect (www.hbcuconnect.com) is the first and largest media outlet targeted towards the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) community. Boasting over 1.5 million registered members and encompassing a complete web portal, magazine, recruiting engine, social networking site, forums, blogs, news feeds and shopping, HBCUConnect.com serves the needs of HBCU aspirants, students, alumni, faculty and staff by providing a single destination and launching point for the entire diaspora. For more information, contact Will Moss at HBCU Connect, 614-416-5515.